Funny thing about collections, they almost never start as collections. You just see one cool old thing that somebody else threw away, then suddenly you're the guy who knows where every dusty booth in three counties keeps their weird stuff. My uncle went through the same thing with old hand planes, and now his garage looks like a museum nobody asked for. People act like keeping stuff is a waste until they need a specific thing fixed and guess who has it. I figure if the hunt makes you happy and it is not costing you your rent money, your wife will come around once she sees how fast you can open one of those Yales. Worse case, you got 47 little metal puzzles that will outlive us all.

Learned this same lesson with a $200 bread maker that was supposed to fix my whole morning routine, and now it just sits there taking up counter space while I buy bread at the store like a chump. Buying stuff feels like solving the problem, but then you gotta learn how to actually use it or pay someone to clean up the mess. At least your driveway looks good, that painter bill is just the hidden fee nobody warns you about.